Shakhtar’s big defeat against Feyenoord last Thursday put an end to the team’s performance in the current European season. But now the wards of Igor Jovicevich can fully concentrate on the matches of the championship of Ukraine. Moreover, here the fight for gold medals is in full swing and the miners should not lose points in games with such teams as Rukh.
Miner
Under the leadership of the Croatian coach, Shakhtar have never faced such a situation. His players have won 6-1 and 7-0 in the Premier League this season and even 4-1 in the Champions League. But to be defeated 1:7 without any options at all, this has not happened yet.
All the highlights of the match are available in Live mode at Telegram Aroged
However, there was one similar situation, when all in the same Champions League in the final match of the group stage, on November 2, the Pitmen lost to Leipzig 0:4. Then the game decided: will the team stay in the same tournament or go to the Europa League? Shakhtar, of course, was upset, but still remained in European competition. Now there was a flight.
Why do we remember that failure? The fact is that in November last year, the wards of Igor Jovicevich completed the first half of the Ukrainian championship with two matches with Zorya and Dnipro-1, in which they scored only 1 point. It is quite possible that at that time fatigue from a large number of matches and not the best psychological state of the players after a major defeat in the Champions League affected. How the very painful fiasco from Feyenoord will affect the team now, we don’t know yet.
Besides, Shakhtar already have losses. It is unlikely that Yefim Konoplya and Alexander Zubkov, who were injured in the game with the Dutch, will play against Rukh. And a recent newcomer to the club, goalkeeper Dmitry Riznyk, also dropped out for an indefinite time. His help in the rotation with Anatoly Trubin at the moment would be just in time.
Movement
The Lviv team before this round took 12th place in the standings and was only two points away from the penultimate position, that is, the relegation zone from the Premier League. Therefore, for Rukh now every point scored is very valuable. Even in the game with the leader of the championship. And the fact that Lviv residents are able, at least, to play on an equal footing with teams that are higher than them in the standings, they have repeatedly proved.
Why go far. In the first round, the wards of Leonid Kuchuk beat Zorya 3:1 and drew with Oleksandriya 1:1. And also Rukh lost to Dnipro-1 2:3, and conceded to the own net only in the fifth stoppage minute by the second half. Yes, and with Shakhtar until the 78th minute, the scoreboard was 0-0, until Konoplya scored the winning goal. So, as we can see, the Lviv players are fighting well against the leading Ukrainian teams.
Of course, the problem for Rukh in the game against Shakhtar will be the absence due to disqualification of one of the main defenders Roman Didyk. He has played 13 games this season, 12 of them as a starter. And, most likely, a big load will fall on the defense of Lviv in the upcoming match.
Match statistics
In the championship of Ukraine at the level of the Premier League, the rivals met 4 times. Shakhtar won three times with a total score of 6:1 and a draw was recorded once. By the way, the teams parted in peace in Lviv in September 2020 in their premiere duel with each other. And although not much time has passed since then, their lineups have changed markedly, especially in Rukh. After all, only Mysyk has the opportunity to play again against the Pitmen wearing the shirt of the Lviv club. Shakhtar has six such players.
Approximate compositions:
“Miners”: Trubin, Mikhailichenko, Rakitsky, Matvienko, Taylor, Stepanenko, Bondarenko, Sudakov, Petryak, Kelsey, Traore
“Movement”: Pankiv, Slyubik, Lyakh, Veremyenko, Dovgiy, Roman, Slyusar, Alvarenga, Mysyk, Solomon, Talles
Forecast for the confrontation:
Of course, the favorite of this match will be Shakhtar. And although the Lviv residents will seriously resist him, the miners will strive to rehabilitate themselves for a major defeat in the Europa League. Therefore, we will bet on the victory of the miners 2:1.
March 19, Sunday
